Dan Kaufman

Dan Kaufman leads the teams responsible for developing policy and using advocacy and strategic communications in support of the Gates Foundation’s programmatic work to strengthen U.S. education and economic mobility.

Kaufman brings 25 years of mission-driven strategic communications and policy experience in the nonprofit, for-profit and public sector to the foundation, with more than 20 years in K-12 and higher education. Before coming to the foundation, he was a managing director at Finn Partners leading the firm’s Pre-K through 12^th grade communications practice and served as a member of the Prince George's County Board of Education (2013-15).

Previously, v worked in communications at the National Education Association and its Maryland affiliate, leading successful integrated campaigns around No Child Left Behind, school funding and teacher pensions, and at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, where he focused on federal and state policy around education, health care, tax reform, and Social Security.

Kaufman's professional experience in education began as a bilingual/ESL teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools. He has taught college- and graduate-level courses at American University, Georgetown University, George Washington University and the Catholic University of Chile, where he served as a Fulbright scholar.

Kaufman earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego, and B.A. in Political Science from Swarthmore College.